1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a writing instrument holder for a vehicle or the like, and particularly to a writing instrument holder which can securely and reliably retain substantially any size writing instrument in a vibration-preventing manner, and such that the writing instrument is conveniently accessible to vehicle occupants.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
There are many known writing instrument holders which may be used or are designed for use in vehicles. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,962,874, 5,180,089, 5,301,856, 5,379,929, and 5,484,066 each disclose a holder device which may be used to hold a writing instrument or the like in a vehicle. The holder in U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,874 is an elongate bracket or recess defined in a back surface of a rigid plate or board and sized to receive a writing instrument therein. The holder device of U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,089 (shown in FIG. 7 thereof) is simply a horizontal groove defined in an upper surface of a flat plate and shaped to support a writing instrument therein, as well as a central, enlarged opening defined completely through the flat plate at the center of the groove and through which a finger or the like may be inserted for pushing the writing instrument upwardly out of the groove. The holder disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,856 is simply a plurality of sleeves secured to one face of a sun visor or the like, each of the sleeves being adapted to receive a writing instrument therein. The holder disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,379,929 is a loop of rigid material extending from one face of a sun visor or the like, and which is adapted to engage an intermediate portion of the writing instrument inserted therethrough. The holder disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,066 is a unitary, plastic molded member including a flat backing plate having adhesive provided on a back surface thereof for being adhesively bonded to a vehicle dashboard or the like, and a plurality of flexible clip structures extending perpendicularly away from the backing plate, each of which is adapted to support a writing instrument. The clip structures each include a pair of substantially semispherical arms which may be flexed away from each other for applying a gripping force to a writing instrument inserted therein, and the clip structures are provided in two different sizes for accommodating the different-sized instruments.
Although each of the known writing instrument holders may be effectively used for its intended purpose, there are limitations and disadvantages associated therewith. For example, none of the known holders may be effectively used to hold many different size writing instruments. Rather, each of the holders disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos., 4,962,874, 5,180,089, 5,301,856 and 5,379,929 is fairly limited to stably supporting a single, given sized writing instrument, while the holder of U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,066 simply includes two different sized clip structures for supporting two different sized writing instruments.
Relatedly, if the known holders in the discussed patents were used, or attempted to be used, in relation to different sized writing instruments the holder would be damaged or permanently distorted from its optimum configuration and/or at least one of the writing instruments would not be securely retained by the holder, causing annoying vibrations and/or disengagement of the writing instruments relative to the holders during vehicle travel.
Further, several of the known holders project within the passenger compartments of the vehicles, which is undesirable because the holders take up valuable space and may obstruct the view of or come in contact with vehicle occupants. Relatedly, the holders tend to detract from the appearance of the vehicle's interior.
On the other hand, some of the known holders are not conveniently accessible because vehicle occupants are required to manipulate portions of the holder structures, such as by opening up a sun visor, to expose the writing instrument, and because the known holders generally require the holder structure to be gripped with one hand while the writing instrument is removed with the other.
The present invention has been developed to overcome the disadvantages and limitations of known writing instrument holders, including those discussed above, and to generally fulfill the need in the art for a writing instrument holder which is relatively simple in structure, readily adaptable/adjustable for use with substantially any size writing instrument, has a favorable, inconspicuous appearance, and is convenient to use when disposed within a vehicle.